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Website Design: The Ultimate Guide with Examples

This post is originally published on Designmodo: Website Design: The Ultimate Guide with Examples

Website Design: The Ultimate Guide with Examples

With modern technologies getting more powerful and widely supported by current browsers, the website has become a designer’s canvas. It is here where artists show off their skills and vivid imagination. We contemplate website designs of all shapes and sizes …

For more information please contact Designmodo

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Best Website Examples that Use Startup App

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This article is a case study in websites built using Startup app. We have compiled an assorted collection of outstanding examples in order to show its range of possibilities and scope of use. No one can argue that the number …
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Showcase of Creative Websites and Tips to Design Unique Ones for Your Clients

You're reading Showcase of Creative Websites and Tips to Design Unique Ones for Your Clients, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook!

Showcase of Creative Websites and Tips to Design Unique Ones for Your Clients

The global market continues to expand. That should mean more business for web designers, and for you. But, as with many good things, there’s a catch. The new clients are out there. More of them than ever. That’s the good …

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Adding Social Proof to Your Website with Client Logos & Press Mentions

You're reading Adding Social Proof to Your Website with Client Logos & Press Mentions, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook!

Adding Social Proof to Your Website with Client Logos & Press Mentions

One huge concept that many designers overlook on their landing pages is social proof. This can come in the form of user reviews, testimonials, or bigger companies vouching for your website. You can accomplish this in many ways but one design …

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How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?

One of the questions we often get asked is: how much does it cost to build a WordPress website? While the core WordPress software is free, the cost of a website depends entirely on your budget and goals.

In this article, we will break it all down to answer the ultimate question: How much does it really cost to build a WordPress website? We’ll also show you how to avoid overspending and minimize cost when building a website.

How much does it cost to build a WordPress site?

This is a lengthy read and that’s why we have added a table of contents. Here is what we will cover in this article.

What Do You Need to Build a WordPress Website?

WordPress is free for anyone to download and use. It is an open source software which gives you the freedom to install it on any kind of website.

So if WordPress is free, then where is the cost coming from?

The cost of a WordPress site can be broken down into following categories:

  • WordPress hosting
  • Domain Name
  • Design
  • Plugins and Extensions (Apps)

To create a self hosted WordPress site, you need web hosting to store your files. Every website on the internet needs hosting. This is your website’s home on the internet.

There are different hosting plans available for all kind of websites. You need to pick one that suits your requirements and fits your budget.

Next, you will need a domain name. This will be your website’s address on the internet, and this is what your users will type in the browser to reach your website (example, wpbeginner.com or google.com).

With WordPress, there are tons of free website templates available that you can use. However, if you want something more advanced / custom, then you can purchase a premium template or have one custom made which will raise the cost.

There are 54,000+ free plugins for WordPress. These are apps and extensions for your websites. Think features like contact form, gallery, etc.

So while you can build a website with just the hosting and domain cost, based on your situation, you may end up paying for additional tools and services. That’s why it’s often confusing for people to find out the real cost of a WordPress website.

Let us walk you through the real cost of building a WordPress site.

Estimating The Real Cost of Building a WordPress Site

Calculating cost of building a WordPress site

Depending on your needs, your cost to start a WordPress website can range from $100 to $500 to $3000, to even as high as $30,000 or more.

It’s important to know what type of website you are building, and what you’ll need for it because that will directly affect your cost.

But don’t worry, we’ll show you how to avoid a financial disaster and make the best decisions.

For the sake of this article, let’s break down websites into different budget categories:

  • Building a WordPress website (low budget)
  • Building a WordPress website (with more features)
  • Building a WordPress website for small business
  • Building a WordPress eCommerce website
  • Building a custom WordPress website

Now let’s see how much each of these projects cost and how you can avoid spending any more than necessary.

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Website (Low Budget)?

Building a low budget WordPress site

You can build a fully functional WordPress website for yourself and keep your costs under $100. Here is the cost break down of a WordPress website on a low budget.

First, you will need a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name typically costs $14.99 / year, and web hosting normally costs $7.99 / month.

Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

For more hosting recommendations check out our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting.

Next, you will need to install WordPress on your hosting account. See our step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for complete instructions.

Once you have installed WordPress, you can choose a design for your website using a free template.

These design templates are called WordPress themes, and they control the appearance of your website.

There are thousands of professionally designed free themes available for WordPress that you can install. See our expert-pick of 43 beautiful free WordPress blog themes for some examples.

Once you have chosen a WordPress template, follow the instructions in our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

Next, you may want to add certain features to your website like adding a contact form, a photo gallery, a slider, etc. Don’t worry there are more than 40,000 WordPress plugins available that will help you do that.

Plugins are like apps or extensions for your WordPress site. See our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Below is our selection of the essentials WordPress plugins that you should install on your website. All of them are available for free.

Features

Website Optimization

Website Security

There are many more free WordPress plugins to add different features and extend your WordPress site. See our best WordPress plugins category where we have reviewed hundreds of WordPress plugins.

Total Cost of website: $46 – $100 per year

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Site (with More Features)?

Cost of WordPress site with more features

We always recommend our users to start small and then add more features as their website grow. This way you will not be paying for anything that you don’t really need.

As you add more features to your website, your website cost will start to increase.

You can continue to use Bluehost for WordPress hosting to keep the cost low and get a free domain name.

However since you will be adding more features to your website, it may make sense to get a more powerful hosting configuration like SiteGround’s GoGeek plan. This will cost you a little more, but it comes with premium features like staging, faster performance, and can handle up to 100,000 visitors per month.

You can use our SiteGround coupon to get 60% off for the first year of your hosting.

You can also go for a premium WordPress template for your site. Unlike free WordPress templates, these templates come with extra features and priority support. See our expert selection of 40 best responsive WordPress themes for some great premium templates that you can use.

For more website features you need to use a combination of free + paid plugin addons.

Here are some essential premium WordPress plugins and extensions that you’ll need as your site grows:

Features

Marketing

Security

There are many more WordPress plugins and services that you can add. Each paid service or addon that you add will increase the cost of your WordPress site.

Total cost of website: Depending on the premium WordPress plugins and services that you add, it can be anywhere between $500 and $1000 per year.

What’s the Cost of a Small Business Website with WordPress

A lot of people often ask us about how much does it cost to build a small business website with WordPress? The answer depends on your business needs and the tools you’ll be using to grow your business online.

Basically, you can estimate the cost to be somewhere between a low budget WordPress site and a WordPress site with more features.

Keeping in mind that you don’t add a full-fledged eCommerce store to your business website. In that case, see the next section in this article for a more accurate estimate.

If you are just starting out and need a simple website showcasing your products and services, then we recommend starting with the Bluehost. Their starter plan will reduce the cost significantly and will leave you with money that you can spend on other premium tools if needed.

If you have a more flexible budget, then you can sign up for SiteGround’s GrowBig plan. They are known for their excellent support, which is a good thing to have for a small business owner with no technical background.

Next, you will need to pick up a design for your website. You can look for a WordPress theme for business websites or pick a responsive WordPress theme that matches your requirements.

You can choose a free WordPress theme. However, since it is a business website, we will recommend you to purchase a premium theme that gives you access to support and updates.

Now let’s talk about plugins.

You will need to use a combination of free and premium plugins to control the cost. Following are some of the premium plugins that are absolutely essential for a small business website.

Features

Marketing

  • Constant Contact – One of the best email marketing service, specially for small businesses.
  • OptinMonster -Helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers. You’ll need it for Lead generation and conversion optimization.
  • MonsterInsights Pro – The best Google Analytics plugin helps you see where your users are coming from and what they do on your website. This allows you to make data-driven decisions to grow your business.

Security

  • UpdraftPlus (Pro) – The premium version of the plugin comes with incremental backups, automatic backups before updates, and several remote storage locations to keep your backups.
  • Sucuri Firewall – Website firewall and malware protection

Now there are many more plugins and tools that you would want to use. We recommend you to first try the free version and see if that does the job for you. Many premium tools are available with the free trials, take advantage of those to see if you really need that tool.

As a business website, you would want to spend money to grow your business. We are not advising you against spending money when it makes sense and you can afford it.

For more details see our step by step guide on how to make a small business website

Total cost of website: Once again it depends on premium tools and plugins you purchase. It can be anywhere between $300 and $700 per year but could go as high as $1000 per year.

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Ecommerce Website?

Cost of building a WordPress eCommerce website

WordPress powers millions of eCommerce websites around the world.

The cost of building a WordPress eCommerce website can be significantly higher, but we will show you how to build a WordPress eCommerce website while avoiding potential losses and overspending.

In addition to hosting and domain, your eCommerce site will also need an SSL certificate which costs around $69.99/year. SSL is required to securely transfer customer data such as credit card information, usernames, passwords, etc.

We recommend using Bluehost Ecommerce plan. It gives you a free domain and SSL certificate, plus discount on hosting.

After that, you need to select a WordPress eCommerce plugin.

There are several eCommerce plugins for WordPress, but none comes even close to WooCommerce. It is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin that allows you to build robust online stores to sell your products/services.

Next, you will need to install WordPress and WooCommerce on your website. We have a step by step guide on how to start an online store.

While WooCommerce is free, you will need to use paid addons for additional features. The cost of your website will go up depending on how many addons you need to add on your website.

Once you are up and running, you will need to choose a WooCommerce ready WordPress template for your site. There are several paid and free WordPress templates with full WooCommerce support. Choosing a premium or paid template gives you access to support and extra features.

We have a list of the best free WooCommerce addons, but depending on your needs, you may have to use some paid extensions as well.

Here are some other paid services that you’ll need on your eCommerce website.

Features

  • WPForms – To add customer inquiries and feedback forms
  • Beaver Builder – To create stunning landing pages using a drag and drop page builder
  • Soliloquy – Create beautiful product sliders with their WooCommerce addon

Marketing

  • OptinMonster – Convert visitors into customers with this powerful lead generation tool
  • Constant Contact – powerful email marketing service
  • MonsterInsights – Ecommerce tracking with real time stats using Google Analytics

Security

  • BackupBuddy – Automatic WordPress backups
  • Sucuri – Website firewall and malware scanner

Remember the best way to keep your costs down is by starting small and adding extensions and services as your business grows.

Total cost of building a WordPress eCommerce website: $1000 – $3000. It could be higher depending on how many paid addons and services you add to your site.

What’s the Cost of a Custom WordPress Site?

Cost of a custom WordPress website

A custom WordPress site is when you hire a WordPress developer to create a unique design and build specific features for it.

Usually well established, large to medium-sized businesses choose this route.

To support a custom WordPress site, you may also want to go for a managed WordPress hosting provider. This is a WordPress centric hosting environment, with managed updates, premium support, strict security, and developer friendly tools.

In addition to your hosting and domain name, you will also be paying the web developer that’s building your website. Depending on your need, you may want to get quotes from several theme developers, web designers, and agencies.

The cost of a custom website depends on your requirements, budget, and the rates of the developer or agency you hire.

A standard custom WordPress theme alone can cost you up to $5000. More robust WordPress sites with specific custom features can cost up to $15000 or even higher.

Update: Since several of you asked for a more details on this section, we have created a comprehensive guide on how much does a custom WordPress theme cost, and tips on how you can save money.

How to Avoid Overpaying and Cut Down Spending?

We always recommend our users to start small and then scale their WordPress site as it grows. In many cases, you don’t need all the premium features that you see on many well-established websites in your industry.

Keep in mind that those websites had a head start, and it likely took them some time to figure out how to manage costs and grow their business.

You can start with a budget website using free plugins and template. Once you start getting visitors, you can consider adding premium features like a premium template, email marketing, paid backup plugin, website firewall and so on.

Same goes for your eCommerce website. Start with the bare minimum and then as you start selling, you will find out exactly the tools that will help you and your customers.

Look for best WordPress deals and coupons to get additional discounts whenever you can.

Even for robust WordPress sites, you don’t always need to hire a developer. We have step by step tutorials on how to create different types of WordPress websites such as:

We hope this article answered your questions about how much does a website cost to build. You may also want to see our list of 25 legit ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website? appeared first on WPBeginner.

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The 101 Most Useful Websites on the Internet

Here are the most useful websites on the Internet that will make you smarter, increase productivity and help you learn new skills. These incredibly useful websites solve at least one problem really well. And they all have cool URLs that are easy to memorize thus saving you a trip to Google.  

101 Useful websites

The Most Useful Websites and Web Apps

  1. archive.is — take a snapshot of any web page and it will be exist forever even if the original page is gone.
  2. autodraw.com — create freehand doodles and watch them magically transform into beautiful drawings powered by maching learning.
  3. fast.com — check the current speed of your Internet connection.
  4. slides.com — create pixel-perfect slide decks and broadcast your presentations to an audience of any size from anywhere.
  5. screenshot.guru — take high-resolution screenshots of web pages on mobile and desktops.
  6. dictation.io – accurate and quick voice recognition in your browser itself.
  7. reverse.photos — upload an image and find similar pictures on the web.
  8. copychar.cc – copy special characters and emojis that aren’t on your keyboard.
  9. codeacademy.com – the best place to learn coding online.
  10. noisli.com — ambient noises to help you improve focus and boost productivity.
  11. iconfinder.com – millions of icons for all kinds of projects. Also try icons8.com and flaticon.com.
  12. jotti.org – scan any suspicious file or email attachment for viruses.
  13. wolframalpha.com – gets answers directly without searching   – see more wolfram tips.
  14. flightstats.com – track flight status at airports worldwide.
  15. unsplash.com – the best place to download images absolutely free.
  16. videos.pexels.com — an online library of free HD videos you can use everywhere. Also see videvo.net.
    17. Also see: The Best Android Apps
  17. everytimezone.com – a less confusing view of the world time zones.
  18. e.ggtimer.com – a simple online timer for your daily needs.
  19. random.org – pick random numbers, flip coins, and more.
  20. earn.com — replace your email with a mailbox that pays when you reply to someone’s email.
  21. myfonts.com/WhatTheFont – upload an image of any text and quickly determine the font family.
  22. fonts.google.com – the best collection of open source fonts that you can use anywhere without restrictions.
  23. fontstruct.com — draw and build your own fonts and use them in any application.
  24. calligraphr.com — transform your handwriting into a real font.
  25. regex.info – find data hidden in your photographs – see more EXIF tools.
  26. youtube.com/webcam — broadcast yourself live over the Internet without any complicated setup.
  27. remotedesktop.google.com — access other computers or allow others to remote access your computer over the Internet.
  28. homestyler.com – design from scratch or re-model your home in 3D.
  29. pdfescape.com – lets you quickly edit PDF in the browser without Acrobat.
  30. draw.io – create diagrams, wireframe and flowcharts in the browser.
  31. web.skype.com — make voice and video calls in your browser with Skype.
  32. onlineocr.net – recognize text from scanned PDFs – see other OCR tools.
  33. wetransfer.com – for sharing really big files online.
  34. file.pizza — peer to peer file transfer over WebRTC without any middleman.
  35. snapdrop.com — like Apple AirDrop but for the web. Share files directly between devices in the same network without having to upload them to any server first.
  36. hundredzeros.com – the site lets you download free Kindle books.
  37. app.grammarly.com — check your writing for spelling, style, andgrammatical errors.
  38. noteflight.com – print music sheets, write your own music online ( review).
  39. translate.google.com – translate web pages, PDFs and Office documents.
  40. kleki.com – create paintings and sketches with a wide variety of brushes.
  41. similarsites.com – discover new sites that are similar to what you like already.
  42. bubbl.us – create mind-maps, brainstorm ideas in the browser.
  43. color.adobe.com – get color ideas, also extract colors from photographs.
  44. canva.com — make beautiful graphics, presentations, resumes and more with readymade template designs.
  45. lmgtfy.com – when your friends are too lazy to use Google on their own.
  46. midomi.com – when you need to find the name of a song.
  47. history.google.com —  see all your past Google searches, also among most important Google URLs
  48. faxzero.com – send an online fax for free – see more fax services.
  49. tinychat.com – setup your own private chat room in micro-seconds.
  50. privnote.com – create text notes that will self-destruct after being read.
  51. domains.google.com – quickly search domain names for your next big idea!
  52. squoosh.app – compress images on the fly. Site works offline as well.
  53. downforeveryoneorjustme.com – find if your favorite website is offline or not?
  54. gtmetrix.com – the perfect tool for measuring your site performance online.
  55. builtwith.com — find the web hosting company, email provider and everything else about a website.
  56. urbandictionary.com – find definitions of slangs and informal words.
    57. Also see: The Best Mac Apps and Utilities
  57. seatguru.com – consult this site before choosing a seat for your next flight.
  58. flightstats.com – Track flight status at airports worldwide.
  59. mymaps.google.com – create custom Google Maps with scribbles, pins and custom shapes.
  60. snopes.com – find if that email offer you received is real or just another scam.
  61. typingweb.com – master touch-typing with these practice sessions.
  62. todo.microsoft.com — a beautiful todo app and task manager. Also see Trello.
  63. minutes.io – quickly capture effective notes during meetings.
  64. talltweets.com — Turn Google Slides in animated GIF presentations.
  65. ifttt.com – create a connection between all your online accounts.
  66. namechk.com — search for your desired username across hundreds of social networks and domain names.
  67. gist.github.com — create anonymous and secret text notes and much more.
  68. flipanim.com — create flipbook animations, includes an onion skin tool to let you see the previous frame as you draw the next one.
  69. powtoon.com — create engaging whiteboard videos and presentations with your own voiceovers. Also see videoscribe.co.
  70. clyp.it — Record your own voice or upload an audio file without creating any account. Also see soundcloud.com.
  71. carrd.co — build one-page fully responsive websites that look good on every screen.
  72. spark.adobe.com — make stunning video presentations with voice narration and wow everyone.
  73. anchor.fm — the easiest way to record a podcast that you can distribute on iTunes without have to pay for hosting.
  74. duolingo.com — learn to speak Chinese, French, Spanish or any other language of your choice.
  75. webmakerapp.com — an offline playground for building web projects in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
  76. pixton.com — create your own comic strips with your own characters and move them into any pose.
  77. gravit.io — a full-featured vector drawing tool that works everywhere.
  78. vectr.com — create vector graphics and export them as SVG or PNG files.
  79. twitterbots — create your own Twitter bots that can auto-reply, DM, follow people and more.
  80. headspace.com —  learn the art of meditation and reduct stress, focus more and even sleep better.
  81. class-central.com — a directory of free online courses offered by universities worldwide.
  82. googleartproject.com — discover museums, famous paintings and art treasure from all around the world.
  83. instructables.com — step-by-step guides on how to build anything and everything.
  84. flowgram.com — make data-driven graphics, charts and infographics. Also see adioma.com and eas.ly.
  85. marvelapp.com — create interactive wireframes and product mockups.
  86. slide.ly — make marketing videos and branded stories for Instagram, Facebook and YouTube trailers. Also see animoto.com and biteable.com.
  87. gohighbrow.com — Take bite-sized courses on a variety of topics, chapters are delivered by email every monning.
  88. htmlmail.pro – send rich-text emails with gmail mail merge.
  89. wirecutter.com — whether you need a vacuum cleaner or an SD card, this is the best product recommendation website on the Internet.
  90. camelcamelcamel.com — Create Amazon price watches and get email alerts when the prices drop.
  91. mockaroo.com — download mock data to fill the rows in your Excel spreadsheet.
  92. asciiflow.com — a WYSIWYG editor to draw ASCII diagrams that you can embed in emails and tweets.
    93. Also see: The Best Add-ons for Gmail, Docs and Sheets
  93. buffer.com — the easily way to post and schedule updates on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.
  94. 10minutemail.com — create disposable email addresses for putting inside sign-up forms.
  95. whereami — find the postal address of your current location on Google maps.
  96. sway.com — create and share interactive reports, newsletters, presentations, and for storytelling.
    97. Also see: The Best Websites to Learn Coding
  97. apify.com — the perfect web scraping tool that lets you extract data from nearly any website.
  98. thunkable.com — build your own apps for Android and iOS by dragging blocks instead of writing code. Also see: glitch.com.
  99. zerodollarmovies.com — a huge collection of free movies curated from YouTube.
  100. upwork.com — find freelancers and subject experts to work on any kind of project.
  101. duckduckgo.com – a clean alternative to google search that doesn’t track you on the Internet.

Know any useful website that is missing in the list? Please let me know via @twitter or send an email.

The post The 101 Most Useful Websites on the Internet appeared first on Digital Inspiration.

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How 9 Things Will Change The Way You Approach Web Designs Trends 2018

Undoubtedly the basic purpose of websites is to attract new visitors and keep the older ones and make them perform the specific task on your website. Each website is designed to perform the above basic functions. On the other hand, the website owner makes it a point to upload the content and images that serve […]

The post How 9 Things Will Change The Way You Approach Web Designs Trends 2018 appeared first on designrfix.com.